Next hot Bay Area neighborhoods might surprise you

Real estate site Redfin listed its picks for the next hottest neighborhoods or small cities across the country, and it’s no surprise that three of them are in the Bay Area (8 out of the 10 are in California!). What might surprise you is which neighborhoods Redfin agents predict will be hottest in 2013.

OK, coming in at No. 9, The Mission District might not surprise you. But San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood at No. 6? Livermore at No. 5? Hmm.

Where would the up-and-coming type Bay Area resident live in these neighborhoods? Here are the hippest looking pads we could find there:

Above the gas fireplace is a space where you can hang a unique work of art by a local artist or a flat-screen TV for watching the Independent Film Channel.

Above the gas fireplace is a space where you can hang a unique work of art by a local artist or a flat-screen TV for watching the Independent Film Channel.

Photo: Patrick Lowell

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Hold soirees for other up-and-coming hipsters on your rooftop deck.

Hold soirees for other up-and-coming hipsters on your rooftop deck.

Photo: Patrick Lowell

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The setting of dinner parties to feature the newest culinary trends.

The setting of dinner parties to feature the newest culinary trends.

Photo: Patrick Lowell

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Here you can dream of how much fun your neighborhood will be when it goes from up-and-coming to "has truly arrived."
(Who are we kidding? This is the Mission, and that happened years ago.)

Here you can dream of how much fun your neighborhood will be when it goes from up-and-coming to "has truly arrived."
(Who are we kidding? This is the Mission, and that happened years ago.)

Photo: Patrick Lowell

Next hot Bay Area neighborhoods might surprise you

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Photo: Intero Real Estate Services

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We feel like the 60s-era angularity of this house has a retro hipness to it. It's listed at $899,000, with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths.

We feel like the 60s-era angularity of this house has a retro hipness to it. It's listed at $899,000, with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths.

Photo: Intero Real Estate Services

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We're not sure what is up with those shelves on what looks like a window, but it looks pretty cool.

We're not sure what is up with those shelves on what looks like a window, but it looks pretty cool.

Photo: Intero Real Estate Services

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The furniture they used to stage this house isn't exactly cutting edge, but at least it's not a sectional with built-in recliners like some of the San Jose houses we rejected for this post.

The furniture they used to stage this house isn't exactly cutting edge, but at least it's not a sectional with built-in recliners like some of the San Jose houses we rejected for this post.

Photo: Intero Real Estate Services

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We can see cooking some pretty cutting-edge meals in this kitchen. Love the glass tile backsplash.

We can see cooking some pretty cutting-edge meals in this kitchen. Love the glass tile backsplash.

Photo: Intero Real Estate Services

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If you're really cutting-edge you'll lose some of the frou frou, but no one's too cool to appreciate a family room with a fireplace.

If you're really cutting-edge you'll lose some of the frou frou, but no one's too cool to appreciate a family room with a fireplace.

Photo: Intero Real Estate Services

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In this light-flooded eating area, you can pretend you're in Tahoe every day.

In this light-flooded eating area, you can pretend you're in Tahoe every day.

Photo: Intero Real Estate Services

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Photo: Legacy Real Estate & Associates

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It takes a special kind of up-and-comer to find the "hipness" in a Livermore house. The "has tons of closetspace"-ness or the "everyone gets a bedroom"-ness, sure, but hipness?
This 4-bedroom, 3-bath house listed at $579,500 is the closest thing we could find. less

It takes a special kind of up-and-comer to find the "hipness" in a Livermore house. The "has tons of closetspace"-ness or the "everyone gets a bedroom"-ness, sure, but hipness?
This 4-bedroom, 3-bath house ... more

Photo: Legacy Real Estate & Associates

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We mean, this home office looks relatively sleek.

We mean, this home office looks relatively sleek.

Photo: Legacy Real Estate & Associates

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And the modern dining room at least does not look like it belongs in a farmhouse.

And the modern dining room at least does not look like it belongs in a farmhouse.

How did Redfin decide which neighborhoods to designate as “hot”? They looked for “shrinking selection, increasing sales, and increasing prices—often at rates far above the metro areas that contain them.” Listings in the Mission are down 29 percent, sales are up 17 percent and prices are up 80 percent (!), all year-over-year as of December. Listings in Willow Glen are down 60 percent, sales are up 9 percent and prices are up 32 percent. In Livermore, listings are down 71 percent, sales are up 13 percent and prices up 20 percent.

Indeed, this article describes Willow Glen as both trendy and upward bound. As much as we searched, we couldn’t find any recent article that used the words “trendy” and “Livermore” together, but if Redfin is right, you may be able to say a few years from now that you moved to Livermore before Livermore was cool.

By the way, the LA neighborhoods that made the list are: Glassell Park (7), Eagle Rock (4), Faircrest Heights (3) and Highland Park (1). In San Diego, Mira Mesa was listed at No. 2.

Carrie Kirby is a freelance writer who recently returned to the Bay Area after living for six years in Chicago. Carrie is more heavily invested in real estate than she ever expected to be, since she and her husband are now long-distance landlords of their Chicago home, and have also purchased a house in Alameda. She posts about interesting properties and real estate trends in San Francisco and Silicon Valley every Tuesday. Carrie also shares money-saving tips on her blog, Frugalistic Mom.